Wednesday night, the Albuquerque Board of Education met to consider adding 10 days to the school year, along with possibly longer school days. “I think it’s 10 days. I don’t think it’s huge. It’s about them getting a good education. If you can take them off my hands, I’m happy to do it,” Casey Smith, an APS parent said. If passed, next year students would start school on July 27 and end May 25, some parents are not ready to add more days to the schedule. One of them is Melanie Melancon, who gave public comments at the board meeting. “The schools all got to vote on this exact measure two years ago, and it was a majority had disapproved, and they did not want their children to go for 10 extra days and or longer days,” Melancon said. The district will receive $42.6 million if the school year extension passes. Parents like Melancon said there is more to the extension than money. “The slated raises have been set. These teachers are going to get a raise. What I find so interesting is how they’re going to make them work additional hours,” Melancon said. Ellen Bernstein is the president of the Albuquerque Teacher’s Federation, she said teachers would like to see the extension be based on a case-by-case basis. “They want to connect with the parents. They want to have a conversation with the staff and the parents, and they want to do that school by school. The people that I’ve talked to do not want to see anything happen district-wide,” Bernstein said. The board ultimately decided to vote down the extended school year proposal.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM —
Wednesday night, the Albuquerque Board of Education met to consider adding 10 days to the school year, along with possibly longer school days.
“I think it’s 10 days. I don’t think it’s huge. It’s about them getting a good education. If you can take them off my hands, I’m happy to do it,” Casey Smith, an APS parent said.
If passed, next year students would start school on July 27 and end May 25, some parents are not ready to add more days to the schedule.
One of them is Melanie Melancon, who gave public comments at the board meeting.
“The schools all got to vote on this exact measure two years ago, and it was a majority had disapproved, and they did not want their children to go for 10 extra days and or longer days,” Melancon said.
The district will receive $42.6 million if the school year extension passes.
Parents like Melancon said there is more to the extension than money.
“The slated raises have been set. These teachers are going to get a raise. What I find so interesting is how they’re going to make them work additional hours,” Melancon said.
Ellen Bernstein is the president of the Albuquerque Teacher’s Federation, she said teachers would like to see the extension be based on a case-by-case basis.
“They want to connect with the parents. They want to have a conversation with the staff and the parents, and they want to do that school by school. The people that I’ve talked to do not want to see anything happen district-wide,” Bernstein said.
The board ultimately decided to vote down the extended school year proposal.
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